Brian’s Juice Fast: Day 4

By day four, the fast had become a boring routine. While the idea of continuing for another six days didn’t seem impossible, it was just too unpleasant. At the end of the day when I came home from the gym I found Brian lying in bed looking at pictures of food on his laptop. He complained that he was hungry but he just couldn’t bring himself to drink any more juice.

He was ready to break the fast, but he wanted to wait until midnight. I told him that if he’s hungry he should eat something and not wait for the sake of finishing the entire day on the fast. I made myself an egg over easy on a piece of toast for dinner and after an hour or so of hesitation, Brian made himself the same thing. He felt immediately better after eating solid food again. I was happy I won the bet, but seeing how hard it was for him to get as far as he did I didn’t gloat too much, mostly because I knew I could never do a juice fast.For breakfast the next morning, Brian ate two donuts and everything was officially back to normal. He lost five pounds overall on the fast, which he quickly gained back when he went back to his regular diet. He was never doing it for the weight loss or the health aspect of it, he always viewed it as a test of willpower, something to do just to see if he could do it.

In the future he plans to incorporate juices into his diet since it’s a great way to get your servings of fruit and vegetables taken care of in one go, but for now I think he’s glad to get back to normal food.

Pineapple Cilantro Cooler (Brian’s favorite juice)
1 whole pineapple chopped
1 bunch of cilantro
juice of one lime

Combine first two ingredients in a juicer, then add the lime juice. Serve over ice.

Brian’s Juice Fast: Day 3

The third day of the fast was nowhere near as bad as the second day according to Brian. His blood sugar levels were stable and he was able to make it through the day without feeling hungry or sick. The toughest part about the third day was that it was the fourth of July. We stayed in during the morning and just relaxed, but in the evening we went to a baseball game and Brian was surrounded by all manner of tempting foods. Hot dogs, beer, nachos, soft pretzels, pizza and funnel cakes, they had it all. This is where I thought he would crack and the ten free lunches would be mine! But he dutifully kept to his juice diet (I was very impressed by this, though secretly disappointed). But he certainly was not happy about sticking to juice when there were giant slices of pizza to be had.
Brian found that juices with more vegetable content than fruit content kept him fuller for longer, though they tasted much worse. Brian really hated the taste of this juice, but it kept him from feeling hungry through the entire baseball game.

Gross Veggie Juice
A bunch of baby spinach leaves
A bunch of kale leaves
3 large carrots
2 apples
juice of one lime

Combine the first four ingredients in a juicer, then add the lime juice. Serve warm at a baseball game.


Read about day 4 here.

Brian’s Juice Fast: Day 2

On day two of his juice fast Brian definitely lost steam. At the end of the day he was feeling sick and achy and didn’t want to drink anymore juice. He became afraid that he might be hurting his body by fasting because he wasn’t getting enough calories or protein and thought maybe he should quit. He made a juice for dinner that was made up of just apples which really upset his stomach and made him think he was dying. Instead of gloating over my looming victory, I was supportive and encouraged him to keep on with the fast.
Ellen’s Juice Recipe
1 cucumber
2 celery stalks
2 tomatoes
3 white peaches
2 apples
Combine all ingredients in a juicer, serve chilled.

Read about day 3 here.

Brian’s Juice Fast: Day 1

The week before starting the juice fast, Brian prepared by substituting his normal breakfast of a granola bar and coffee for a vegetable juice in order to get used to it. The night before starting he was nervous and didn’t think he’d be able to finish the entire ten day fast. He whipped up a large batch of juice for the next day to drink whenever he felt hungry.At the end of the first day he had no issues with feeling hungry, but he was tempted by any food that he could smell (like the citrus-laced cupcakes that one of our co-workers brought in) and he felt that his sense of smell was heightened because of the fast. He even went so far as to say that chefs should do juice fasts so that they can enhance their other senses and recognize more subtleties in other foods.

When asked about the first thing he’ll eat when he’s done with the fast he said that he will ease himself back into solid foods by starting out with simple meals first (no pizza or hamburgers for this guy!)

First Day Juice Recipe
5 full kale leaves
1 stalk of broccoli
5 large carrots
1 cucumber
1/2 cantaloupe
3 small apples
2 oranges

Combine all ingredients in a juicer (makes 3 servings)

Read about day 2 here.

Brian’s Juice Fast

A few weeks ago, Brian and I watched the movie Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead on instant Netflix. Brian usually hates fad diet things like the Paleo diet, the master cleanse, acai, kale, wheatgrass and anything else that is generally considered a “superfood”, so I really thought that this would be a movie that he would just hate. But at the end of it, he decided that he wanted to try a ten day juice fast, not for any health benefit, but just to see if he could do it. I decided to up the steaks and bet him ten lunches that he could not go ten days without eating solid food. We kept notes on his progress and I’ll be sharing that (with his permission of course!) all this week along with some of his juice recipes.